


How Camest Thou Hither

by FannyT



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Battle Couple, M/M, Secret Santa Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 11:45:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8799619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FannyT/pseuds/FannyT
Summary: When Alexander Lightwood leaves his kingdom for a diplomatic mission to the warlock court, he doesn't really know what he's expecting. But he's pretty sure that it was not supposed involve battling strange creatures on balconies with King Magnus Bane.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MissAnonymoushp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAnonymoushp/gifts).



> Hello write-yourself, I had a lot of fun writing for you! Unfortunately, I found in the middle of december that I was about ten pages into a complicated AU, and Magnus and Alec weren’t even close to meeting yet... So, what I decided to for the exchange was write you a scene from this fic, when Alec and Magnus have actually met, with a promise of more to come once I finish the rest of this story! :) 
> 
> Best wishes for the holiday season; hope you have a great one!

Alec’s standing too close; he knows he is. He’s not supposed to act like this. He’s on a diplomatic mission. Magnus Bane is the king of the warlock kingdom. He’s supposed to be making alliances and agreements. And yet, all he can think of as they stand on this balcony together is that it smells of roses, and there are stars overhead, and all he really wants to do is kiss Magnus Bane. 

Magnus takes a step back from him, frowning, and Alec goes cold. 

“Sorry, I—” he begins, looking away and trying to bring himself under control, but Magnus grabs his arm tightly. 

“Be still a moment,” he whispers, and as Alec looks back at him, he’s startled to see Magnus’s eyes glow bright, golden and catlike. 

And then he hears it, too. Something’s moving below the balcony. Something that slithers and wheezes. 

“Did you bring your bow and arrows?” Magnus whispers. 

“Didn’t really seem appropriate for a diplomatic meeting.” 

“So you’ve just got your knife, then?” Magnus mutters, and he’s actually smiling now. Alec decides to risk a smile back. 

“Old habit?”

“I assumed,” Magnus replies, raising his eyebrows. “I mean, it would have been nice to think you were just glad to see me, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.” And then, while Alec is still digesting that last part, Magnus brings his hands together, blue fire sparking out of his fingers and coalescing into a shimmering mist. He grins back at Alec. 

“Ready?”

The creature roars up over the balcony, all tentacles and teeth, and Magnus splays his arms wide. Blue fire explodes out of his palms, and the creature shrieks, caught in an the onslaught of magic. It keeps its hold, though, tentacles wrapped firmly around the balcony banister, and Alec ducks under Magnus’s arm, pulling out his knife and throwing himself towards the creature. 

He hacks wildly at it and manages to shear one tentacle right off, the severed limb landing on the balcony floor and oozing black, thick liquid. It doesn’t seem to do much, however. The creature only rears higher, slavering jaws opening wide as if to swallow them whole. 

“Alexander!” Magnus shouts. “Get back!”

Alec follows the advice quickly, scrambling backwards as one tentacle whips overhead, missing him narrowly. Magnus is looking somewhat strained now, his arms trembling slightly, as his magic keeps the creature from getting too close. 

“Are you all right?” Alec asks him, settling into a defensive stance and stabbing at any tentacles that come too close to him or Magnus. 

“For the time being,” Magnus says tightly. “Won’t hold for ever. It’s stronger than I expected.” He sighs, making a pushing motion with his hands and then looking back at Alec, his cat’s eyes glowing brightly. 

“How would you feel,” he says, “about a little cross-kingdom cooperation?”

“Well, that is what I thought we were supposed to be doing out here,” Alec replies. “Although you said something about drinks. This is not drinks.” 

“Patience is a virtue,” Magnus says, twirling his hands in a complicated pattern and then clenching one hand into a fist. “Catch!”

Alec turns his head and sees something hurtling towards them. He stretches out his arm almost by instinct, and a bow smacks into his hand. 

It’s not the bow he left with the guards in Magnus’s grand hall, but it feels just as familiar; the wood a supple hickory, the draw perfect. He finds himself wondering if Magnus summoned it from somewhere or if his own magic made it, and in either case, how Magnus knows which kind of bow would suit him. 

However, those thoughts are overshadowed by a much larger concern. 

“You didn’t bring any arrows.”

“That’s where the cooperation comes in handy.” Magnus closes his eyes, splaying his fingers wider. “I can’t hold it much longer. I hope your aim is as good as the reports from your kingdom say?”

It doesn’t feel like the time for false modesty, or for exploring just what reports have been making it out of the Lightwood kingdom lately. “It is.”

“Good. Draw your bow, and when I drop the shield, be ready.”

Alec nods, stowing away his knife again and getting a better grip on the bow. There are still no arrows in sight, but he draws the bow anyway, sighting on one of the creature’s multifaceted eyes. 

“Ready?” Magnus asks, and Alec moves in close to him, nodding. 

Magnus drops the shield and grabs Alec’s shoulder, and an arrow flares into life in Alec’s hands. It’s radiant with blue fire, but the flame doesn’t burn him—only flickers slightly as he draws the string further back. 

He takes a moment to breathe, relaxing his back and neck—he can feel Magnus breathing in sync with him, hand firm on his shoulder—and then he fires. 

The arrow flies through the air with a whistling sound, sparks trailing behind it, and hits the creature right in its central eye. There’s a ghastly shrieking sound as the creature rears up to its full height, its limbs spread wide in a contorted pose. Then it explodes. 

In the quiet that follows, Alec looks around the balcony covered in black slime and smiles back at Magnus. “Thanks,” he says. “Nice trick with the arrow.”

“Thanks yourself,” Magnus says, twirling his fingers to release some final blue sparks and then clapping his hands together. “So. I feel these diplomatic talks are off to a good start. How about we follow it up with those drinks?”

“Maybe somewhere more enclosed?” Alec suggests, and doesn’t realise exactly how it sounds until Magnus grins at him.

“My personal chambers have a wonderful view of the gardens.”

Alec hesitates for a moment, then smiles back. 

“That sounds great.”


End file.
